A story of courage and determination

For many sports enthusiasts and activists around the world, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics brings a ray of hope, with a female participation rate of 49%, making it the most gender-balanced Olympics in history. However, although this year’s major events are exemplary in terms of empowering women and girls, female athletes in South Asia say they still have a long way to go to achieve equality in sports.

In this regard, the South Asian Peace Operations Network (SAPAN) recently organized a webinar in collaboration with South Asian Women in the Media (SAWM), bringing together 13 female athletes from South Asia who talked about the challenges they face as women. Before they succeeded in their respective sports.

The online panel discussion was hosted by journalists Aekta Kapoor and Beinga Sarwar, while Pakistani sports journalist Natasha Raheel Khan and athlete rights advocate Dr. Payoshni Mitra hosted the meeting.

The event started with an introductory meeting, followed by a special appearance by the famous Pakistani actor Samina Ahmed, who showed a short play by the satirist Shahib Hashmi. Najam Sethi, a Pakistani journalist and former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Committee, also spoke at the online event.

The two-hour event was full of stories and solidarity, and ended with ideas such as the book project and the South Asian Female Athletes Association.

‘Stand up and fight back’

In the panel discussion, these energetic athletes—mostly from medium backgrounds and small cities in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka—explained how they excel in sports and what they learned from experience.

During the event, Indian athlete and sports investor Ayesha Mansukhani stated that every girl, whether they want to make it a career or not, should participate in sports so that they can learn a lifelong lesson: if they fall.

“I have always wanted to promote sports among women in all sectors of society to experience the benefits of sports, regardless of whether they can enter the senior league,” she said. “Every time you lose in sports, there is only one thing to do: stand up, wipe the dust off your body, return to the ring, work harder, run faster, jump higher, hit the ball harder, dive Go deeper.”

She said that if you instill this kind of tenacity in women from a young age, they will learn what to do when they face loss in later life, regardless of the nature of the loss. “Get up, re-enter, fight-that’s why I like to promote sports among women.”

Break the gender gap

Mansuhani also talked about the stereotypes of women in all South Asian societies. She criticized the media for promoting features such as fair skin, zero size, and sexiness symbols to gain social recognition.

“For women, in addition to playing the role of a sexy symbol, there are more [because] This is not the message we want to convey to our daughters,” she said, adding that young girls should be taught to be strong and resilient instead of adhering to the ideals of fairness and cuteness.

Mansukhani’s views were endorsed by the award-winning Bangladesh weightlifting champion Mabia Akhter Shimanto. Although she has a very supportive family, she has been questioned by wider society for not assuming the traditional role assigned to women. She talked about how people stared at her in the past and even criticized her sportswear.

“Sports is a godsend force. When I was a kid, I always wanted to participate in sports, but then I had to fight to enter the traditional “boy” sport. Even now, I must fight to be selected,” Shimanto said.

During the conversation, Nisha Millet, an Olympian swimmer from India, urged women to re-enter the competition even after leaving competitive sports and contribute to the cultivation of the next generation of female athletes through coaching, coaching, promotion and other such efforts.

Toughness and courage

For Harida Popal, the former captain of the Afghan women’s national football team, becoming a female athlete is not only a challenge, because she belongs to the patriarchal society, but also because of the war in her country.

“The war took everything from us,” Popal sighed, adding that she decided to make football a full-time career because someone had to take a step.

“I was harassed, criticized and attacked, but I did not give up because my struggle was not only for myself, but also for my sisters and all other women in my country,” she said. “South Asia is like our home. Our pain is the same. What is missing is unity.”

Like Popal, international squash player Noorena Shams is also the first international female athlete in the Malakand region in northwest Pakistan, and she also grew up in conflict. However, despite the trauma of the war, she desperately continued to do her favorite things.

“I can still hear the bomb,” she said, adding that she thought she would die and never thought she would play squash, especially at the international level.

Shams said that although she is very proud to be the first woman ever to become an athlete in her area, being the only one also makes her uneasy.

“Why is it only me? Why don’t other girls come out?” She questioned and added that in her case, it was not only luck but also a lot of hard work that allowed her to enter the mainstream sports industry.

The squash player also pointed out that playing games is naturally more difficult in an area where girls’ struggle is connected to education.

“I disguised myself as a boy to play cricket in Peshawar,” she said. “…South Asians should continue to support each other. It has nothing to do with the trophy or who won the trophy first. We must do it together and support each other.”

Fight discrimination

Many participating athletes also talked about the discrimination they had to endure in the sports field.

Gulshan Naaz, an award-winning disabled athlete from Saharapur, a small town in Uttar Pradesh, India, said her ability was questioned due to partial blindness.

“No one wants to sponsor blind runners,” Naaz said. “[Whenever my name came up for consideration] People in positions of authority question what the disabled can do.

Similar to Naaz, Bangladeshi cricketer Champa Chakma talked about being bullied and discriminated against because of belonging to an indigenous tribe. “This is unfair,” Chakma said of her ordeal.

Caryll Tozer, an activist and former netball player from Sri Lanka, has witnessed widespread discrimination in the sports industry. She talked about sexism, dehumanizing phobias, systemic gender-based discrimination, and abuse of female athletes.

“In our region, women should retreat to the second place, while male athletes are respected throughout South Asia,” she said.

“Women are doomed to fail”

Almost all participating athletes complained about the lack of funding for women’s sports in their country, adding that they had to work hard to make ends meet. Some of them even had to find side jobs.

Asreen Mridha, a national basketball player from Bangladesh, stated that most women are hesitant to become full-time athletes because there is no money, adding that she has experienced considerable experience throughout her career. Financial difficulties.

Ruhmana Ahmed, captain of the Bangladesh women’s cricket team, also highlighted the financial challenges that female athletes still face.

“Women must prove that they can get funding,” she said.

Preety Baral, a national tennis player from Nepal, agreed and said that participating in sports as a woman is a challenge in itself.

“Related Challenges [funding] Not applicable to our male counterparts. Our country is completely focused on men’s teams and failed to recognize our potential,” Ballard said, adding that the sports committee does not want to invest in female players because it is assumed that women will not continue their careers once they get married or become mothers. .

At the same time, Sanamir, the former captain of the Pakistani women’s cricket team, said that even if the men perform poorly or win, they will receive financial support.

She said: “In Pakistan, women still don’t have the facilities to play sports while raising their families.” “In many cases, finances exist, but we are told that they do not exist. Women are doomed to fail, while men’s cricket. The athlete got everything.

Roopa Nagraj, cricket player, coach, and former Indian team player seconded Mir said that finding a job is one of the biggest challenges facing South Asian female athletes.

Female objectification and sexual harassment

Towards the end of the event, Najam Sethi talked about the different issues faced by South Asian female athletes and highlighted two other issues: female objectification and sexual harassment-both of which deserve more attention.

He said: “The courage and determination of these female athletes in a very difficult environment and how they smiled about their ordeals shocked me, adding that the story he heard in the discussion is worth a book. The Sapan team agreed to participate in the project.

The idea of ​​the South Asian Women’s Athletes Association proposed during the event also attracted the attention of the participants.

The famous educator Baela Raza Jamil announced the “Saphan Charter”, calling for the establishment of a visa-free South Asia that is convenient for trade, tourism and travel during the event. She invited attendees to join the growing number of people in the region supporting the charter.